


End of an Era

by HeadmasterFelicis



Series: The Telesterion [1]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Original Work, The Scribe of Delphi
Genre: Alternate Mythology, Apple of Eden, Golden Apple, Mythology References, Near Eastern Mythology - Freeform, Patreon Cross-Post, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Roman Myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeadmasterFelicis/pseuds/HeadmasterFelicis
Summary: Eris, the current pseudonym for a goddess who has moved many times, meets with an oracle to discuss the end of the era and how to survive the coming death of her cults.
Series: The Telesterion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064384





	End of an Era

“Been a long time since you’ve asked to talk.” Eris slipped down from the branch of her tree and smoothed out the saffron peplos that draped exquisitely over the curves of her body. “And I gotta say, it makes me a little nervous that you wanted to meet here, of all places.” Next she re-tightened the fastening of her high ponytail and swept the thick, golden waves of hair off her shoulders to swing freely behind her back. Properly put together again, Eris crossed her arms beneath her breasts and arched an expectant eyebrow.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had news worth meeting about, and…” He sort of trailed off as he brushed a hand along one of the branches of the tree. “I thought the news would be best delivered where things all began for us.”

Eris prickled at the wording. “You sound like you’re breaking up with me,” her tone was flat, sarcasm hidden deep but perceptible by the present company.

“I’ve told you, you’re not my type,” he shot back with a smirk and an intentionally adorable ruffling of his fluffy brown hair, finally re-acclimating to her presence again enough to find playfulness. 

“I know, I know. I mean, I also know that if there were a woman…” It was so much easier for her to tease than to confront the sense of impending doom that seemed to always accompany visits from The Sage.

“It would be Mistress, and none of us want the scorched earth your temptation brings. Please, Eris, can we get back to why I came?”

She sighed but also nodded and gestured vaguely with her hand for him to continue.

“The age is coming to an end.” There was fear and sadness lurking behind his eyes, but his voice remained solemn and level. “The Vesuvian pantheon voted yes. After that, there will be unrest, and the Monolith will come to power in Rome.”

There was a period of comfortable silence between them as Eris gazed sightlessly into a ripe, red apple hanging from the tree. “Another fall, huh? So soon? It feels like they’re happening so quickly these days.” Her tone carried the heartache he didn’t dare show. “The Akkadians, the Minoans, the Hellenists.. I hear even Isis’s empire has been struggling. So what’s the plan? Move west again?” She already knew there was no further west to go, not without also moving north into the land of the Celts.

Even though he had played out this conversation a million times in his head, steeled himself against what it was he had to confront here, he still froze. Words moved slowly in his head and his voice refused to work. The too-long stare said it all for him.

“... So this is it.” Eris swallowed thickly and blinked away tears. “Is that the prophecy you’ve come to deliver, Sage? That I’ve got until the fall of Rome and it’s my cabal of ex-boyfriends who have signed my death warrant?”

A little fire from his longtime friend and the tugging at the deep parts of himself that his title draws out, and Phaedrus found his proverbial footing once more. “No. I mean, sort of. Things are… The game is changing, you’ve been seeing that, right? All the old cults have been dying for a long time and the Monolith is gaining traction. Even if we did move again, we would only be buying ourselves decades at this point.”

She cleared the emotion from her throat and met his eyes in a sideways glance. “So you’ve come to offer me an out, then?”

“I’ve come to show you the roads I see.”

Eris plucked the apple she’d been idly toying with before finally giving all of her attention back over to her visitor.

“The coming era will be ruled by the Monolith,” he began. “It’s been in the prophecies since before my progenitors met and the time is finally coming. So,” Phaedrus interrupted himself long enough to take a seat in the grass, back resting against the tree. “Without intervention, you will be faced with two roads. One, you attempt to hold yourself together. Your worshippers are culled, your cults become rare and diasporic, and as a result you yourself splinter into your named aspects.”

“Splinter, or branch?”

The question makes him smile. “I love talking to someone who understands what I’m saying. But, sadly, splinter. Eris will cease to be, and your consciousness will be divided amongst other names.”

She sighed once again and sat down beside him, carefully brushing her skirt under her. “Okay, and the other road?”

“You adapt for the new world.”

Eris’s lip curled with disgust. “The Monolith’s world? Do I even want to know what that kind of adaptation would have to look like?”

“You’d have to become everything they say you are and feed off of their belief in that. There’s no question that it would change you.”

“So I can splinter, or I can choose to compartmentalize myself into Eve, that’s what you’re saying?” She crossed her arms over her stomach again, body language closing off protectively.

“If you want to stick around for the coming age, those are the routes I see, yeah.”

Eris thought on the subject for a moment before venturing another question. “Are you completely sure about all of this?”

“I went to see Hekate about it,” he assured her. “She was able to confirm that the prophecies I’m getting are true. And my source in the Vesuvian pantheon confirmed that the only thing left to decide about the eruption is when, not if. It’s just common sense that once the Monolith controls the Roman Empire, it will conquer everything else.”

“Greedy fucking abomination of…” Eris stuffed her hatred, took a deep breath, and refocused. “Hekate…” The name was accompanied by a small, listful laugh. “Did she give you any advice?”

“She reminded me that the age of the Monolith will come to an end,” Phaedrus offered with a tentative smile. “And I think I’ve figured out an intervention. A way to hibernate through most of it.”

More didn’t need to be said. Eris knew exactly how hibernating would work and she’d seen plenty of her kin go through with it, but she’d never understood the choice. It always felt like weakness or codependency. She sucked on her lip and thought silently for a long time, fidgeting with the apple in her hands.

“Is that what Mara is doing?” She finally asked.

Phaedrus shook his head. “She’ll navigate it differently. The Monolith started integrating her differently a long time ago.”

“And she really is what they say she is, so I guess it’s not much of a change to rely on that. Makes sense.” Another long pause and Eris had another question, but one that made clear the only real option she saw. “What if I don’t like the vessel? Or the others in the vessel?”

A tiny smile pulled at the corner of Phaedrus’s lips. “Hekate showed me something else while I was there, while we were talking about how to help you.”

“Wait, what?” Eris couldn’t help but interrupt. “Hekate wanted to help me?”

“Cruelty isn’t always hatred. She does love you, she’s just…” Phaedrus didn’t dare continue to explain, certain he would overstep his bounds somehow. Instead, he got back to the point. “She’s been holding onto a secret all these lifetimes, just to make sure the seat was always saved for you. The living quarters aren’t great, it’s messy and full of books and you’ll probably be really bored a lot of the time, but… I’ve got space for exactly one passenger, if you want a ride to the next age.”

“Just you and me?” She was starting to smile again. It would be a far cry from the sanctuary of her gardens or the raw energy of her festivals, but it beat anything else on the table at the moment.

He returned the expression of hope. “Just you and me. You gave me the ability to hold onto myself, now it’s my turn to do the same for you.”

“If you only have space for one, what’s your connection going to do? He and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment but…” Eris shrugged, finding it unnecessary to finish the thought.

“Oh, he’ll be riding with The Craftsman. They have a lot of work to do during the reign of the Monolith.”

Somehow that inspired a twinge of jealousy in the goddess. “But we’re supposed to just, what, skip over it like we’re useless?”

Reluctantly, Phaedrus shrugged and then shook his head. “I have work to do too, mostly at the beginning and the end. I was hoping you would help me with it, but the space is yours no matter what.”

Soothed and intrigued, Eris finally handed the apple to Phaedrus, all shiny and golden now. A reminder of her talents and priceless gift all in one. “Yeah? What kind of work?”

**Author's Note:**

> Prologue Chapter 1 of the Scribe of Delphi project.
> 
> Weekly updates and more content at Patreon.com/ScribeOfDelphi


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